Women's & Gender Studies

2011-2012: The Women's and Gender Studies Department is celebrating their 20th year at Gonzaga University!

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Gonzaga's Women's and Gender Studies Program provides students with the tools they need to participate competently in our society's current conversation about gender. This multi-disciplinary program examines the historical and contemporary circumstances which have shaped the relationships between men and women. It raises fundamental questions about gender relations, explores philosophical assumptions about human nature, and considers the possibility of new social practices which will bring about greater equality and mutual understanding.

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At the 2013-14 Academic Honors Convocation on April 22, WGST minor Brittney Abad ('14) was awarded the Women's and Gender Studies Department Standout Award. Brittney's contributions to the WGST program have been truly impressive. This school year alone, she led the coordinating committee for the sexual assault awareness and prevention event Take Back the Night; is an editor for Gonzaga's feminist student publication, The Fringe; serves as President of the WGST club, Speak UP!; was a panel member at a recent Spokane event discussing women in music videos; is active in UMEC (Unity Multicultural Education Center at Gonzaga); and much more. As Brittney graduates this May, she leaves behind an impressive legacy of friendship, activism, and leadership within not only the WGST Department, but also Gonzaga as a whole. We cannot wait to see what great things her future holds!

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"The Women's Studies program at GU has provided an environment in which I can both explore and express who I am more fully as a human being and as a woman, by encouraging me to ask basic questions about the role I play and roles I *could* play in my society and in the world. Also it has opened my mind to the beauty of diversity and prompted me to seek equality for people of all genders, races, sensualities and ways of being."

- Elizabeth Stauder

"The Women's Studies program at GU has helped me see that my passion in life is working with non-profit organizations that benefit women. We are so often blind to the suffering of women and children in our society, whether it be the percentage of female homeless persons, the blatant disrespect for women's bodies found in much of the media, and even the negative connotation that the word "feminist" carries with it. The women's Studies program has allowed me to see these things in a critical way, and I hope to move forward in life educating people about women's rights and equality."